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• Part of The Leaf-Chronicle’s annual Year in Review of the top local stories in business, schools, crime, City Hall, county government, courts, higher education and Fort Campbell.

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CLARKSVILLE, TENN. — City Hall’s share of the news often increases during an election year but Liberty Park’s opening, the Riverwalk’s extension and a few other events put Clarksville’s city government in the limelight beyond just November’s election.

Liberty Park and Clarksville Marina

Building a marina in Clarksville has been talked about since the 1970s but in October that dream finally became a reality when Mayor Kim McMillan officially opened Liberty Park and Clarksville Marina.

The $34 million park features two event spaces, a marina, an off-leash dog park, a playground, two football fields and a walkway.

The Wilma Rudolph Events Center, the park’s larger event space, has room for over 1,000 guests and views looking across the park, marina and Cumberland River.

McMillan said the park encapsulated the values of Clarksville and was a huge addition to the amenities of the community.

“Today has been a celebration of our commitment to community and family, and I want to thank every person that has been involved in designing and building the park,” McMillan said at the park’s opening.

Two floods, including the historic May 2010 flood, and a bankruptcy by one of the park’s subcontractors, delayed the park’s opening. Former Mayor Johnny Piper, who spearheaded the project in 2009, said the opening was a historic moment for Clarksville.

“This is a big city development for a mid-sized city,” Piper said at the opening. “There’s something here for everyone.”

Riverwalk

Clarksville got a grant big enough to bring the Governor to town in August when the Tennessee Department of Transportation awarded the city $626,360 to extend the downtown Riverwalk by $1,500 feet.

The grant requires a $156,590 match from the city, which still has to be approved by the City Council, and if it passes the city probably won’t break ground on the project until the fall of 2013.

The expansion will extend the Riverwalk north towards Fort Defiance, and many hope future expansions will connect the path with Clarksville’s Greenway trail.

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Access to Blueways

Pedestrian trails weren’t the only parks funded in 2012. The City Council funded the first official access point to the Blueways system, which provides kayakers and canoeists with access to the city’s waterways.

The $83,400 access point, which will have a launching dock and parking spaces, is on the Big West Fork Creek just north of Tiny Town Road and should be built by May 1, according to Parks & Recreation Director Mark Tummons.

Hen legalization

Hens were given a pass into Clarksville yards after the City Council passed an ordinance in September legalizing backyard chicken coops.

City law forbid keeping chickens in residential zones but over the summer residents looking for a sustainable source to get fresh chicken eggs asked the council to make an exception for female chickens.

After some debate – a few council members worried about runaway chickens and a slippery slope to backyard farms – the council passed the law and the city started taking permit applications in November.

City Council election

Six City Council seats were up for reelection this November but the council’s composition hardly changed after all of the incumbents running were reelected.

The lone new member is Valerie Guzman filling Councilwoman Candy Johnson’s seat. Johnson decided not to run and had endorsed Guzman.

Even though the incumbents safely retained their seats over $60,000 was spent on City Council races.

A third of all the money was spent in the race for Councilman Joel Wallace’s Ward 9 seat. Wallace comfortably won, and Jeff Robinson came in second with 22 percent of the vote.

Wallace was helped by an unaffiliated Political Action Committee with close connections to Mayor Kim McMillan that raised close to $10,000 and sent out negative mailers against Robinson and Councilman David Allen.

Charter revision fails

After months of discussion, citizen input and council meetings the city’s charter revision was back from the state Capitol and one vote away from becoming law when the council fell one vote short of making it law.

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Much of the revision was aimed at old sections of the city’s code that were illegal in parts and often convoluted but the rewrite included additions that: allowed citizens to do business with the city and sit on boards, required a majority-plus-one vote to override the mayor’s veto, and allowed utility rates to be changed by two council votes instead of three.

The revision needed a two-thirds majority to pass, which it had on its first reading, but when it came back from Nashville with Gov. Bill Haslam’s signature on it Councilman Nick Steward changed his vote, leaving the council one vote shy of passing the measure.

Steward was joined by Councilwoman Deanna McLaughlin, Councilman David Allen, Councilwoman Kaye Jones and Councilman Bill Summers in voting against the revision.

Downtown Market

The Saturday Downtown Market was almost moved to the north section of the Riverwalk this past spring but a coalition of residents and downtown business owners stopped the relocation.

The Parks & Recreation Department said the asphalt on City Hall’s parking lot was too hot for the market and the Riverwalk would allow more parking.

But the business owners argued that the market’s original intent was to boost downtown business and moving it would diminish its effect on the downtown area.

Drought

The summer’s high heat was great enough to push water restrictions, fireworks bans and burn bans on the residents of Clarksville.

Clarksville Gas & Water issued mandatory water restrictions in June that limited the amount commercial and residential customers could irrigate on their properties.

The Tennessee Department of Agriculture issued a burn ban in June that applied to fireworks and coal grills and carried a fine of $2,500 for any violations.

The burn ban stretched into July but the city and Fort Campbell were still able to do their Independence Day fireworks shows.